Atheist Nexus2015-08-02T21:32:14ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephShttp://api.ning.com:80/files/wWCfc0zEZZw-kdFSybh9cW8bJQp4rTAnDdIxcIm-QrbNdh2b03Ig1uecr-V02xQQgQqVF6gNL3y*XgHdvh2dTAi5D1OhAbLP/WWavatar.jpg?width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://atheistnexus.org/group/culturalevolution/forum/topic/listForContributor?user=2212h7ukw07nd&feed=yes&xn_auth=noMemetics going mainstreamtag:atheistnexus.org,2013-06-18:2182797:Topic:22550102013-06-18T21:42:17.210ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>In <a href="http://www.alternet.org/economy/america-and-chinas-terrible-plans-future" target="_blank">Why America &amp; China's Future Plans Are Totally Nuts</a>, James Howard Kunstler refers to memes in his opening statements.</p>
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<blockquote><p>Societies periodically go insane. Fallacious <strong>memes</strong> sweep through a frightened and confused populace and bad things happen, bad choices get made. Two bad ideas in particular…</p>
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<p>In <a href="http://www.alternet.org/economy/america-and-chinas-terrible-plans-future" target="_blank">Why America &amp; China's Future Plans Are Totally Nuts</a>, James Howard Kunstler refers to memes in his opening statements.</p>
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<blockquote><p>Societies periodically go insane. Fallacious <strong>memes</strong> sweep through a frightened and confused populace and bad things happen, bad choices get made. Two bad ideas in particular <strong>infect the American thought-o-sphere</strong> these days: 1) that non-cheap oil can keep all the rackets of consumerism going; 2) that we can offset all the quandaries of non-cheap oil with accounting fraud and debt creation. [emphasis mine]</p>
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<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/badideaeconomy.jpg"><img class="align-center" src="http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/badideaeconomy.jpg"/></a>Granted, he uses the made up "thought-o-sphere" instead of "memosphere", but otherwise it's a nice example of memetics used correctly instead of</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.geekosystem.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Periodic-table-of-Memes-880.png"><img class="align-center" src="http://www.geekosystem.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Periodic-table-of-Memes-880.png"/></a></p> Word frequency reflects likingtag:atheistnexus.org,2013-02-14:2182797:Topic:21638442013-02-14T20:54:57.166ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>Many Atheists continue to talk about theism for decades after they've stopped buying into the spooks. My position ,that it's better develop a theism-meme free world is often incomprehensible to some. This excerpt from an article on word use, <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130213173135.htm" target="_blank">Cracking the Semantic Code: Half a Word's Meaning Is 3-D Summary of Associated Rewards</a> gives a nonmemetic perspective to the issue of continued use of theism…</p>
<p>Many Atheists continue to talk about theism for decades after they've stopped buying into the spooks. My position ,that it's better develop a theism-meme free world is often incomprehensible to some. This excerpt from an article on word use, <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130213173135.htm" target="_blank">Cracking the Semantic Code: Half a Word's Meaning Is 3-D Summary of Associated Rewards</a> gives a nonmemetic perspective to the issue of continued use of theism concepts.</p>
<blockquote><p>...they also found that how <strong>frequently a word was used was</strong> also <strong>a good predictor of how much we like it</strong>. This is a well-known effect -- the 'mere exposure effect' ...</p>
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<p>This implies that an Atheist who spends lots time and energy disparaging theism still likes theism, because he or she can't stop reaching for those memes. Personally I feel irritated by theist memes and would rather not "hear" them in an Atheist social network. I don't have lots of positive associations pulling me to the words.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://freethoughtnation.com/images/stories/bibletrash.jpg"><img class="align-center" src="http://freethoughtnation.com/images/stories/bibletrash.jpg"/></a></p> Review of The Mocking Memestag:atheistnexus.org,2013-01-28:2182797:Topic:21531372013-01-28T05:17:22.868ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p><a href="http://on-memetics.blogspot.com/2013/01/tim-tyler-sheehan-mocking-memes-review.html" target="_blank">Tim Tyler reviews The Mocking Memes</a></p>
<blockquote>The Mocking Memes:A Basis for Automated Intelligence by Evan Louis Sheehan</blockquote>
<blockquote><p>This is a great book. In fact I think the author's views of the topic of memetics are more similar to my own views that practically any other author I can think of. Like me, the author cites the work of A.G. Cairns-Smith on…</p>
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<p><a href="http://on-memetics.blogspot.com/2013/01/tim-tyler-sheehan-mocking-memes-review.html" target="_blank">Tim Tyler reviews The Mocking Memes</a></p>
<blockquote>The Mocking Memes:A Basis for Automated Intelligence by Evan Louis Sheehan</blockquote>
<blockquote><p>This is a great book. In fact I think the author's views of the topic of memetics are more similar to my own views that practically any other author I can think of. Like me, the author cites the work of A.G. Cairns-Smith on genetic takeovers, and discusses the possibility of a memetic takeover. Also like me, the author is interested in the link between memetics and machine intelligence.</p>
<p>The author doesn't seem particularly interested in orthodox views. He starts out by radically redefining the term "meme" to be the inherited unit in universal Darwinism. That's a radical break with tradition, and I can't say I entirely approve - though certainly the inherited unit in universal Darwinism is badly in need of a name. He also radically redefines the term "information" -...</p>
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<p><br/>It should be noted that Tim Tyler has his own memetics book.<br/><a target="_blank" href="http://memetics.timtyler.org/graphics/memetics_cover_thumbnail_256.jpg"><img class="align-center" src="http://memetics.timtyler.org/graphics/memetics_cover_thumbnail_256.jpg"/></a><a href="http://on-memetics.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-memetics-book-chapter-titles.html" target="_blank">See Chapter titles here</a></p>
<p>I am ordering his book.</p> Video on Religion as virustag:atheistnexus.org,2013-01-16:2182797:Topic:21450942013-01-16T20:19:05.934ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4lEmIWl18zE?list=UUuff10A6JeheV__mso67QdA&amp;wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4lEmIWl18zE?list=UUuff10A6JeheV__mso67QdA&amp;wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p> Bullying still attractive in leaders *yuck!*tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-19:2182797:Topic:21260692012-12-19T20:25:58.105ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121219084219.htm" target="_blank">For Power and Status, Dominance and Skill Trump Likability</a></p>
<p>You'd think we'd advanced culturally in selecting leaders, since the stone age. Not so much.</p>
<blockquote><p>Finding the next Barack Obama or Warren Buffett might be as simple as looking at who attracts the most eyes in a crowd, a new University of British Columbia study finds.</p>
<p>For the study, which used eye-tracking…</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121219084219.htm" target="_blank">For Power and Status, Dominance and Skill Trump Likability</a></p>
<p>You'd think we'd advanced culturally in selecting leaders, since the stone age. Not so much.</p>
<blockquote><p>Finding the next Barack Obama or Warren Buffett might be as simple as looking at who attracts the most eyes in a crowd, a new University of British Columbia study finds.</p>
<p>For the study, which used eye-tracking technology, participants who observed groups of strangers were able to accurately predict who would emerge as leader of the group in 120 seconds or less.</p>
<p>According to the study -- to appear in the forthcoming <em>Journal of Personality and Social Psychology</em> -- <strong>two sets of behaviours will accurately predict future leadership and catch people's attention. The first is prestige -- the appearance of skill and competency. The second is dominance, which includes the ability to impose ideas on others through bullying and intimidation</strong>.</p>
<p>... the study finds that one's likeability -- long considered essential for modern leaders -- does not consistently predict the attainment of greater status. While participants preferred leaders with prestige, they were surprisingly likely to choose dominant leaders.</p>
<p>The findings might explain the ongoing prevalence of aggressive leaders in business and politics, such as Donald Trump...</p>
<p><strong>According to the researchers, today's dominant behaviour has evolved from resource and power battles from our evolutionary past.</strong> Prestige's viability as means of attaining status, has increased with the rise of meritocracy in society. [emphasis mine]</p>
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<p><a target="_blank" href="http://markatlarge.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/donald-trump-Wages-a-War-on-Women.jpg"><img class="align-center" src="http://markatlarge.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/donald-trump-Wages-a-War-on-Women.jpg?width=300" width="300"/></a>As long as we pick leaders who bully and intimidate, we're unlikely to cooperate well enough globally to stop climate change before it's deadly. Is this our evolutionary dead end? Are we too ill adapted for planetary thinking to avoid the <em>ultimate</em> Darwin award?</p> Submit climate crisis memestag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-17:2182797:Topic:21245462012-12-17T17:09:52.814ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p><a href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/whats-your-meme-changing-the-climate-change-conversation/" target="_blank">What’s Your Meme? Changing the Climate Change Conversation</a></p>
<p>Memetics is finally being applied to climate change messaging. You can submit candidates at the blog above, or via twitter or facebook.</p>
<blockquote><p>Mr. Brewer and Mr. Karafiath hope to develop memes that variously target a broad swath of cultural contexts, whether from a national, political…</p>
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<p><a href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/whats-your-meme-changing-the-climate-change-conversation/" target="_blank">What’s Your Meme? Changing the Climate Change Conversation</a></p>
<p>Memetics is finally being applied to climate change messaging. You can submit candidates at the blog above, or via twitter or facebook.</p>
<blockquote><p>Mr. Brewer and Mr. Karafiath hope to develop memes that variously target a broad swath of cultural contexts, whether from a national, political or demographic point of view.</p>
</blockquote> The Psychology of "Memes"tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-11-07:2182797:Topic:20956642012-11-07T20:59:34.804ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>Yes, this is the derivative sense of "meme", but it still says something important about cultural evolution in the information age. By Julia Mitelman.</p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="409" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/52826142?badge=0&amp;color=ffffff" width="500"></iframe>
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<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/52826142">The Psychology of Memes</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user14372216">Julia Mitelman</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p>This emergent phenomenon…</p>
<p>Yes, this is the derivative sense of "meme", but it still says something important about cultural evolution in the information age. By Julia Mitelman.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="409" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/52826142?badge=0&amp;color=ffffff" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/52826142">The Psychology of Memes</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user14372216">Julia Mitelman</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p>This emergent phenomenon of belonging, participation and empathic sharing via parody and remixing may be the foundation of a new global community.</p>
<p></p> The world is led by memeplexes, not by rational peopletag:atheistnexus.org,2012-08-29:2182797:Topic:20406552012-08-29T19:39:37.117ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>George Monbiot noted Aug 28th, 2012 as the day the world went mad.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2012/aug/29/day-world-went-mad" target="_blank">The day the world went mad</a></p>
<p>How are we going to explain to our children, he said, "Why it all went so wrong?" While the planet hurtles through tipping points toward an uninhabitable future, media discuss more important issues such as the location of another airport runway.</p>
<blockquote><p>I wonder…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>George Monbiot noted Aug 28th, 2012 as the day the world went mad.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2012/aug/29/day-world-went-mad" target="_blank">The day the world went mad</a></p>
<p>How are we going to explain to our children, he said, "Why it all went so wrong?" While the planet hurtles through tipping points toward an uninhabitable future, media discuss more important issues such as the location of another airport runway.</p>
<blockquote><p>I wonder whether we could be seeing a form of reactive denial at work: people proving to themselves that there cannot be a problem if they can continue to discuss the issues in these terms.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile...</p>
<blockquote><p>The Republican party's leading lights either deny climate change altogether, or argue that people can adapt to whatever a changed climate may bring, so there's nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>The deluge of reality has had no impact on the party's determination to wish the physical world away.</p>
<p><strong>When your children ask how and why it all went so wrong</strong>, point them to yesterday's date, and <strong>explain that the world is not led by rational people</strong>. [emphasis mine]</p>
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<p>This leaves open the question, <span style="color: #993366;"><strong>who or what does lead the world?</strong></span> Individual madness doesn't cut the mustard. What accounts for our collective madness, then?</p>
<p><strong>To what extent does our complex system of cultural institutions, memeplexes, and entangled human beings qualify as "mad"?</strong> <span style="color: #993366;"><strong>While undertows of memetic-poisoned information and capital flowing through cultural channels pull us</strong></span> toward self immolation, is it even possible to step back enough to comprehend our situation?</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kNdUbAMY7-M/0.jpg"><img class="align-center" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kNdUbAMY7-M/0.jpg"/></a></p>
<p>Can memetics free us from twisted "framing" long enough to regain control of civilization?</p>
<p>As I see it, memetics isn't some ivory tower abstraction. It's a tool we need to fight for survival.</p> The irony of Ryan's Takers vs Makers memetag:atheistnexus.org,2012-08-14:2182797:Topic:20292112012-08-14T19:41:53.191ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>Ayn Rand fan Paul Ryan uses a <a href="http://nation.foxnews.com/paul-ryan/2012/08/03/paul-ryan-takers-vs-makers-society" target="_blank">Takers versus Makers</a> meme, dividing US citizens into the very productive, such as hedge fund managers, and those who are on a government dole such as recipients of aid to the disabled and social security recipients. <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/12/america-coming-civil-war/" target="_blank">Unionized public employees are lumped into…</a></p>
<p>Ayn Rand fan Paul Ryan uses a <a href="http://nation.foxnews.com/paul-ryan/2012/08/03/paul-ryan-takers-vs-makers-society" target="_blank">Takers versus Makers</a> meme, dividing US citizens into the very productive, such as hedge fund managers, and those who are on a government dole such as recipients of aid to the disabled and social security recipients. <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/12/america-coming-civil-war/" target="_blank">Unionized public employees are lumped into Takers</a> too.</p>
<p><strong>The irony of this self-characterization is that Ryan epitomizes <a href="http://www.partnershipway.org/about-cps/foundational-concepts/what-is-partnership/contrasting-models-partnership-and-domination" target="_blank">Dominator Culture</a></strong>, identified by Riane Eisler, <strong>where power means taking</strong> by force <strong>from those lower in the hierarchy and from nature</strong>. This contrasts to Partnership Culture, where power is identified as the power to create, to produce, to make.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.partnershipway.org/about-cps/foundational-concepts/what-is-partnership/contrasting-models-partnership-and-domination"><img class="align-center" src="http://www.partnershipway.org/core-pathways/leadImage_heading"/></a></p>
<p>Takers versus Makers really is the underlying issue for sustainability, both in terms of taking from nature and in reproductive "rights". As long as reproduction is framed from a Dominator perspective, from a male-dominance perspective, overpopulation will always be an untouchable third rail in public discussion. Sperm is cheap. Males evolved to maximize reproduction by inseminating as many females as possible. This isn't a question of blame or put down, it's natural selection from a context in which we depended upon predation, disease, and starvation to keep population balanced with resources. Females, by definition, invest more in reproduction and therefore put themselves more at risk to protect the future of the young. In Partnership Culture elder women make political decisions for the common good, where men and women are <em>equally</em> valued. <strong>Women are the ultimate makers.</strong> When women share power, societies eschew warfare for building and creating.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-91dAg0bYSM0/Td-sjeKabnI/AAAAAAAACVw/UQqw-drpDbA/s1600/hands.jpg"><img class="align-center" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-91dAg0bYSM0/Td-sjeKabnI/AAAAAAAACVw/UQqw-drpDbA/s1600/hands.jpg"/></a></p>
<p>Now that overproduction has itself become a threat to human survival, removing the real takers from the seat of power is important <strong>to make</strong> a measure of <strong>globally fair population control</strong> possible, for a start to make it <strong>even imaginable</strong>.</p>
<p>Imagine the <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/10823-major-banks-help-clients-hide-trillions-in-offshore-tax-havens-part-i" target="_blank">12 trillion dollars, currently sequestered in tax havens</a> by the super rich, released to fund global adaptations to climate change, which includes some form of safety net for the most disadvantaged who will be asked to give up having large families to guarantee their old age. You couldn't even think in those terms, could you? It sounded crazy. Redistribute wealth held by rich white folks from developed countries to the poorest people in developing countries - why that would mean the end of the world as we know it!</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/images/caring-society-illustration-by-don-baker/image_preview"><img class="align-center" src="http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/images/caring-society-illustration-by-don-baker/image_preview"/></a></p>
<p>The thing is, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/opinion/sunday/extreme-weather-and-drought-are-here-to-stay.html" target="_blank">we're already at the end of world as we know it</a>. Worldwide, the area of land subject to weather extremes has increased from .1% to 10%. In another decade it's <a href="http://www.planettechnews.com/science/item1796" target="_blank">projected to reach 16.7%</a>. In the US the category of exceptional drought wasn't even used before 1980. Look at the extent of exceptional drought the past week:</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/08/12/opinion/12drought-map/12drought-map-popup.jpg"><img class="align-center" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/08/12/opinion/12drought-map/12drought-map-popup.jpg?width=450" width="450"/></a></p>
<p>The entire normal curve of temperature is moving toward higher temperature and at the same time squashing down (reflecting greater variability).</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/nasa3.gif"><img class="align-center" src="http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/nasa3.gif"/></a>This is what you happens when the vast majority of human beings and the planet itself are exploited by those at the top of the Dominator hierarchy for their own power. <strong>The supreme Takers are the 0.001%</strong>. <span style="color: #990000;"><strong>As long as the Takers are in charge this curve will continue moving toward ever more extreme change.</strong></span> Even after we revolt in favor of fairness instead of hierarchy, momentum will long continue devastating Earth's carrying capacity.</p> The Endmemetag:atheistnexus.org,2012-08-14:2182797:Topic:20290512012-08-14T15:47:33.319ZSteph S.http://atheistnexus.org/profile/StephS
<p>The endmeme is an important concept because it endangers all life on the planet. And it’s getting stronger and stronger since I coined the term in <i>Mirror Reversal</i> in 2007. It’s the belief that “Christ Is Coming” or the Holy Prophet will soon return riding his flying horse Baraq through the streets of Mecca to scourge the infidel and reward the faithful. </p>
<p>The endmeme is dangerous because the vast majority of humanity is infected by it. Most people believe in one of the…</p>
<p>The endmeme is an important concept because it endangers all life on the planet. And it’s getting stronger and stronger since I coined the term in <i>Mirror Reversal</i> in 2007. It’s the belief that “Christ Is Coming” or the Holy Prophet will soon return riding his flying horse Baraq through the streets of Mecca to scourge the infidel and reward the faithful. </p>
<p>The endmeme is dangerous because the vast majority of humanity is infected by it. Most people believe in one of the craziest books ever written, <i>The Book Revelation</i>, the work of frustrated and hopeless lifetime prisoner who must have been on a bad LSD trip. St. John the Devine cursed the world because two thousand years later, our precious planet is in mortal danger because of his psychotic work. </p>
<p>The danger of a self-fulfilling prophecy looms closer and closer. As I write this, Jews and Mohammadans rattle their sabres while Christians all over the world wait anxiously to enter the fray. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu just yesterday issued an ominous warning within just a few miles of the fields of Armageddon.</p>
<p>From Wikipedia:</p>
<p>According to one <a title="Premillennialism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premillennialism">premillennial</a> Christian interpretation, the <a title="Messiah" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah">Messiah</a> will <a title="Second Coming" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Coming">return to earth</a> and defeat the <a title="Antichrist" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichrist">Antichrist</a> (<a title="The Beast (Bible)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(Bible)">the "beast"</a>) and <a title="Satan" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satan">Satan</a> the <a title="Devil" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil">Devil</a> in the Battle of Armageddon. Then Satan will be put into the "bottomless pit" or <a title="Abyss (religion)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abyss_(religion)">abyss</a> for 1,000 years, known as the <a title="Millennial Age" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennial_Age">Millennial Age</a>. After being released from the abyss, Satan will gather <a title="Gog and Magog" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gog_and_Magog">Gog and Magog</a> (peoples of two specific nations) from the four <a title="Corners of the earth" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corners_of_the_earth">corners of the earth</a>. They will encamp surrounding the "holy ones" and the "beloved city" (this refers to <a title="Jerusalem in Christianity" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_in_Christianity">Jerusalem</a>). Fire will come down from <a title="God in Christianity" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Christianity">God</a>, out of <a title="Heaven" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven">heaven</a> and devour Gog and Magog after the Millennium. The <a title="Devil" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil">Devil</a>, death, <a title="Hell" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell">hell</a>, and those not found written in the Book of Life are then thrown into <a title="Gehenna" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna">Gehenna</a> (the <a title="Lake of Fire" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_of_Fire">Lake of Fire</a> burning with brimstone)</p>
<p>It only takes one powerful fanatical world leader to reason: “Well, we just completed the Millennial Age. What are waiting for?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><sup> </sup></p>